Thursday, 18 December 2014

Predictions for the 3D Printing eco-system in 2015

2015 Predictions for
the exciting home, consumer and business 3D printing eco-system.

Time to dust off the 3D printed crystal ball and make some predictions for 2015. Here is my view looking forward in the 3D printing industry.

Tell me what you think? below in comments, over on G+ here or Twitter - @Richrap3D

- 3D Printing -

The Hype is dying down a little, users are moving into the
useful phase of 3D printing. Both quality and speed is improving with software
and processing tools lagging behind expectations. The 3D printer price war is
still on, but to a lesser extent as users can see what you get for ~$200 is not
what they really want or need.

New developments, designs and ideas for 3D printing continue
to bloom from the open-source community. We may even start to see some early
and innovative ways to reward designers and developers that share their work,
collaborating with others and the wider maker community.

The gap between ‘professional’ and home / consumer 3D
printers will continue to bridge, with users in both sectors and the
manufacturers / suppliers.

High end 3D Printing manufacturers will slowly refine their
technology reducing price points at the lower (entry level). The market will
get more competitive before starting to shake down to a few clear market
leaders.

- Materials –

This year we have seen so many more filament suppliers pop
up, and many of them have had quite shocking and bad tolerance control (material swings
from under 1.55mm to over 2mm, sometimes in less than 1M lengths).

2015 will be the
year that users no longer tolerate poor quality – “If it’s crap – send it
back”. Tolerances of +/- 0.1mm will be considered ‘standard’ and premium suppliers
/ manufacturers will be able to hold +/- 0.05mm for most material types. 'Demand good quality materials'

We will see many more materials and ‘value added’ unique
formulas that help with the further expansion and creative process of 3D
printing.

We should see some actual conductive materials appear
(rather than just anti-static / high resistance currently available) that could
make printing basic circuits for electronics possible for everyone.

Hopefully we will see a better understanding by the media
and users – e.g. - thermoplastic materials
and resins are still just that even when filled with wood, ceramic or metal
fibers. It’s still not magic or revolutionary, just evolution of a well
established process.

A viable and universal support material will finally be developed (and it will be good and low cost).

- Machines –

We will see many smaller machines; things will get further
miniaturised and become truly portable. Higher quality and faster results.

Bigger machines will also be popular, but will be focused
more towards specific materials and uses.

Further excitement around printing metals, reality is that’s
still incredibly complex, messy, dangerous and expensive.

We will start to see more 3D Printers designed for specific
functions and less ‘general purpose’ printing, especially in Food and all sorts
of Art & Sculpture applications.

I still don’t see multi-function machines being a success in the next 3-5 years. Machines that combine many functions (Print-Scan-Mill-Laser-Cut-Make-Toast-Walk-The-Dog) will continue to appear but users will be very
disappointed with poor results and complexities.

Topical example -> FLUX All-in-one - Will it be any good? – I
really wish them success and a good product. - $1.4Million as I type this – Keep an eye on the Kickstarter
comments for this one, and as they say, time will tell…

Specific machines, getting more focused on an application is
still the way to go, we are still in a very early eco-system for 'desktop
manufacturing'.

We will see many more SLS/SLA/Laser/DLP/Resin printers. Along with advancements in Resin/powder based materials, they will be a very viable choice over FFF/FDM based machines in 2015.

At least twice as many home/pro-consumer 3D printers will be sold in 2015 compared to 2014.

- 3D scanning –

Still a long way to go, but improvements and further
products like Fuel3D, will open up a more creative design flow for individual
users and designers.

- Processing software –

Some early advanced slicing algorithms will start to make
more robust and stable 3D Prints by form analysis and a deeper understanding of
the materials being used. Giving the user more advice and less failures or
unexpected results.

- Firmware /
Electronics –

2015 will finally be the year of ARM based control systems
(used in many more production machines), much more sophisticated control
algorithms and emphasis on user machine interfaces that are actually intuitive.
Setup will be easier to configure and printing machine profiles will start to
have ‘dynamically controlled parameters’ for specific materials being used –
more than simple Slicer and Gcode control.

- Model / Design –

We will see many more people wearing 3D printed designs /
objects and Jewellery and other wearables.

We could see a backlash against the license / subscription ‘cloud-only
based’ design/model offerings.

Free-flowing organic design will start to get easier and
more accessible for users and designers – combined with improvements and cost
reduction in new scanning technology.

Verification of model designs so they can be successfully 3D
printed will improve along with better advice for designing for the 3D printing
process – awareness and more appropriate use in designs / applications. Just
because you can 3D print it…

A viable and usable CAD to 3D Print eco-system will start to
emerge – probably driven by Autodesk (Spark etc.)

- Education –

More of a wish than a prediction – I hope we will see more
companies and individuals supporting learning and education in schools. Not
just by giving or discounting machines and materials, but actually helping with
understanding, training and long-term support for teachers, students and the
entire education system (all around the world). This goes for all and any
technology and ‘making’, not just specifically 3D printing.

- Kickstarter and Crowdfunding –

I have supported more crowdfunding projects this year than
previous. Unfortunately the quality and delivery is definitely getting worse,
it’s having quite an impact on how people view crowdfunding and tech start-ups.
I will personally be more cautious in 2015.

- Patents and Closed-Source
Developments –

Well, they are not going to slow down anytime soon, but people
the world over are starting to understand the power of cooperation and
open-innovation so that’s making a more balanced and sharing eco-system for the future.

- Open-Source and Open
Innovation –

Most of these things still need a strong force behind them,
person or cause, mission or desire. And it’s getting stronger as more ideas
are being shared instead of being trapped or never seeing the light of day. 'Share and Support'

- 3D Printing Shows /
Events / Conferences –

It’s going to be ‘war of the shows’ in 2015, things will hot
up for global presence, visitors and sponsorship. It’s getting serious
business, as interest grows in 3D Printing and all aspects of the design &
making process, we will see some collaboration but mostly strong competitive
signals in the 2015 show calendar.

- Standards / Associations
/ Hubs and Resources –

More adopted standards will help growth of 3D printing and
usability for many different industries. Global associations will continue to
grow with members and support from manufacturers will strengthen the industry.

Community Hubs and file / design / idea sharing resources,
will have some significant terms and conditions to work out with their users. The
rapidly expanding use of 3D printing has already started to overtake the
ability to control what people do with it. And how appropriate or safe it is
for a task or application, either implied or assumed. *A very complex and legal
issue indeed *

2015 3D Printing predictions are my own and could well be incorrect, see
you next year to see how many of these will ring true.

And if you are sat around with nothing to do or want an idea for a business, pick one from the above and make it happen.

About Me

Richard Horne (RichRap)
is an Electronics Engineer, Product Designer, Salesman, and Problem Solver
working in a wide range of industries and applications, across many platforms
and technologies for the last 20 years.